In the Children's Room

by Anna
(California)

Something was wrong. I no longer heard the laughter of the children coming from upstairs. Silence. Complete and horrible silence. I felt so alone. There was a terrible feeling in my stomach. Slowly, I ascended the steps leading to the children's room.

"Riiiiiiiing! Riiiiiiing!" Two hours earlier, the phone rang. I answered it on the second ring feeling flustered and exhausted. The Rodonglo children had been driving me insane all afternoon. I didn't know why I had ever agreed to babysit them.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Click." The caller hung up. My hand was shaking as I hung up the phone. This was the third mysterious phone call I had received that day. However, I shook off my fears and went to check on Alice and Timmy Rodonglo. I found them upstairs in their room watching their television.

I heard them laughing as the colorful creatures on the screen danced around making funny noises. I smiled and left the room. Half an hour passed. Since I could still hear happy sounds coming from Alice and Timmy's room, I assumed they were all right. I sat down on the large leather couch and did my homework. For the next hour I occasionally went to check on the children, then return and do some more work. The clock ticked away. To pass the time, I listened to the radio. Some boring newscasts were playing, but only one caught my attention. "Psycho on the loose," it said.

It was only half an hour later that I noticed the TV had been turned off upstairs. The laughter had stopped. Everything was quiet. Suddenly, I heard a loud banging noise coming from outside. Then a shattering of glass. Fear struck my heart.

Something was wrong. I felt more alone then I ever had in my life. Slowly, I ascended the steps leading to the children's room. As I peeked in through their door, my worst fears were confirmed. A large figure stood in the middle of the darkness, holding a bundle in it's arms. At first I thought the bundle was moving, but the movements seemed to subside after a few seconds.

The thing began to walk towards me. A horrible thought occured to me. This thing was the psycho, and it was going to kill us. I turned to run but stopped in my tracks. "The children are my responsibility," I thought. "Anything that happens to them, is my fault." Without another thought, I grabbed a nearby lamp and brought it down on the psycho's back. It shrieked and dropped the bundle it was holding. I looked down to see the lifeless face of Timmy. I screamed but remembered that there was nothing I could do. Alice was still alive and I had to protect her. I had no hope for my life or hers however, but I fought with all my might against the deranged man.

All of a sudden I heard a slight wimper. I looked down at Timmy and saw that he was alive, but unconcious. A ray of strength began to shine in me. With all my life I pushed the man against the window. He was strong, but hope somehow made me stronger. With one firm and mighty shove I threw the psycho out the window. It was over.

I ran to help Timmy who was confused and beaten. I told him everything was alright. I found Alice who had been hiding under her bed and led the two frightened children down the stairs and into the living room. I had won the biggest battle of my life.